Gemma Burgess

Gemma grew up in various cities in Australia and Asia, mostly Hong Kong. Her love of reading and writing probably came from being taught at home by her English teacher mother for the first few months of every move.She went to university in Sydney, where indecision led her to a triple major Bachelor of Arts in English, History and Theatre, followed by a Journalism course.Gemma moved to London when she was 22 with not much more than £400 and the address of a hostel in Bayswater. She started working as a copywriter, writing for one of Microsoft’s agencies, where she would hide in the toilets and cry because she couldn’t understand the technical stuff she was writing. Over time, Gemma moved to better and more exciting agencies, until she finally had the experience to become a freelancer and – more importantly – the confidence to write her own stuff.This, of course, wasn’t the point of her 20s: the point was to have as much fun as possible without going over her overdraft. Gemma also had her heart broken more times than is worth reporting, and more bad dates than she cares to admit. Finally, at 3am in a bad nightclub in Chelsea, Gemma met a tall, loud Irish guy who she is marrying in April 2010. He makes her laugh so much that she is in constant danger of incontinence. Which just shows that any club that will play S Club 7 without irony isn’t all bad.